Over the last decade, petroleum-based fuel prices in the United States have steadily risen. It is estimated that the price for petroleum-based fuel will continue to rise, with the average price in the range of 5 to 6 dollars per gallon as the norm. Several reasons have been cited for the increasingly high prices seen at the gas pump. The United States continues to be one of the world's largest users of petroleum-based fuel. It is estimated the U.S. uses 18-20 million barrels of crude oil a day. As other countries, such as China and India, become more industrialized, they compete with the United States. Competition for such limited resources results in increasing prices. Despite international competition for petroleum-based fuel increases, the U.S. has steadily decreased its domestic production, creating a dependency on foreign oil sources. About half of the petroleum-based fuel purchased by the United States now comes from foreign sources. Such dependence on foreign oil provides ample opportunity for fluctuations in price. Moreover, given the fact that some of the foreign oil originates from the Middle East where governments may not be stable or friendly to the United States, social occurrences and influence over oil cartels are beyond the control of the Unties States, thereby presenting opportunity for increasing energy costs.
Exploring and drilling for new sources of domestic oil may be a mechanism to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil sources. However, recent environmental disasters, such as the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, may prevent, or at least reduce, the likelihood of exploring for and drilling new oil wells. In addition to rising gas prices, environmental concerns regarding the use of fossil fuels, i.e. increased levels of carbon dioxide emissions believed to contribute to the global warming phenomenon, have contributed to increased efforts for the development of alternative petroleum-based fuel sources. As environmental groups pressure Congress to eliminate or reduce the dependence on unclean fuels, the price of petroleum-based fuel is expected to rise.
Given the environmental factors and economic realities of petroleum-based fuel usage, alternative fuels sources have been developed. One such alternative fuel is biofuels, such as biodiesel. Biodiesel is one of the fastest growing alternative sources in the country. Biodiesel is a domestically produced, renewable fuel that can be manufactured from new or used vegetable oils, animal fats, and restaurant oils. The use of biodiesel, in conventional diesel engines has been shown to substantially reduce emissions of pollutants such as all green house gasses when compared to use of petroleum-based fuels up to 86%. Air contaminants reduced include unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, sulfates, polycyclic aromatics hydrocarbons, nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and particulate matter. The carbon dioxide released in biodiesel combustion is offset by the carbon dioxide sequestered while growing the feedstock from which biodiesel is produced. Biodiesel is safe to handle and transport due to its biodegradability and non-toxic nature. If released to the environment, biodiesels degrade almost four times faster than petroleum-based fuels. Biodiesels have similar physical properties as petroleum-based fuels, and therefore, can be blended with diesel fuel in any proportions, such as B20 which is a commercial blend of fuel containing 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum-based diesel. Biodiesel can have a great environmental and economical impact as a partial substitute for petroleum-based fuels. By being blended into current petroleum-based mixtures, reduction of the amount of diesel fuel used daily can be accomplished. While biodiesel is a renewable source, obtaining enough of it to be a direct fossil-fuel replacement is unrealistic at this time. Improvements to the processing of biodiesel may be important for public usage and ultimate commercial success.
Developing better systems for producing biodiesel, such as reducing the total amount of energy it takes to produce a gallon, is of primary importance if such a fuel is to become an important alternative to petroleum-based fuels.